Do you guys have any habits rooted into your workflow that you think are weird/unorthodox/not normal? I hear a bunch of them from my friends and they're often really cool way to do things that I never thought of, being self-taught and all.

When I name my channels, I always give them weird names depending on how they sound (Ripper, growler, slider, floater, etc).

When I make dubstep/electro synths, I always make the synth patch, then completely cut off the low end and replace it with a clean sub.

Professional audio/visual idiot, poor excuse for a human being, gathering dust on a shelf somewhere in Sydney, NSW, Australia.

At 1/19/13 07:33 AM, ChainsawPolice wrote:
Do you guys have any habits rooted into your workflow that you think are weird/unorthodox/not normal? I hear a bunch of them from my friends and they're often really cool way to do things that I never thought of, being self-taught and all.

When I name my channels, I always give them weird names depending on how they sound (Ripper, growler, slider, floater, etc).

When I make dubstep/electro synths, I always make the synth patch, then completely cut off the low end and replace it with a clean sub.

I never wear pants while making music. Somehow this boosts my creativity. I found out a while ago when I started a song after .. watching some videos on the internet.

At 1/19/13 10:05 AM, wandschrank wrote:
Hm, looks at bit like my names. "neu", "hallo", "komisch" etc. . In the end, I don't know the song names at all, so a few months or years later it is always a nice surprise to open those old projects.

"Sorry, but 'FUCK.flp' already exists"

Professional audio/visual idiot, poor excuse for a human being, gathering dust on a shelf somewhere in Sydney, NSW, Australia.

At 1/19/13 10:05 AM, wandschrank wrote:
Hm, looks at bit like my names. "neu", "hallo", "komisch" etc. . In the end, I don't know the song names at all, so a few months or years later it is always a nice surprise to open those old projects.

"Sorry, but 'FUCK.flp' already exists"

Many of my project files are named assorted racial slurs, as well as a lot of my bass patches.

At 3/27/11 10:22 PM, sugarsimon wrote:
the brilliant songs who create a production for music
Wat

On the flip side, some of my guitar riffs stem from my trance melodies.

I will also refuse to start writing a song unless I am able to work a minimum of 7 hours straight on it... Meaning, if I have to work later in the day, I will outright refuse to seriously write a song for fear of being interrupted and then never being able to get my flow back.

You'll have to excuse my language here, but this is a terrible habit I think a lot of us have, maybe not so vulgar but it sure isn't practical...

I never really come up with a title for my audio track until after so the project file always has a un-related name so it makes it hard to remember which project file is which if I ever want to go back on something.

"stupidpoopshit.flp"
"shittypoop.flp"
"OMGWHYLOL.flp"

Turns out that some of those poorly named tracks are amazing orchestral pieces that I end up calling something like:
"Soliloquy"
"Beyond the Clouds"
"Dark Descent" <--- This one might actually be poop related? XD

At 1/19/13 02:51 PM, deadlyfishes wrote:
I never really come up with a title for my audio track until after so the project file always has a un-related name so it makes it hard to remember which project file is which if I ever want to go back on something.

"stupidpoopshit.flp"
"shittypoop.flp"
"OMGWHYLOL.flp"

But my weird habits usually take over -____-

That is so true... Then you have to go back and search for it... that's the worst.

The only weird habit that comes to mind is how I end up colour-coordinating my tracks while I work. The only other people I know that make music and colour-code their tracks do it randomly, just because. For me, I absolutely have to colour-code them based on what the sounds in that track sound like, or what kind of mood the melody/harmony in that track gives off. If it's something calming, I'll colour it with blue, or soft orange, and if it's something more dramatic, I'll go for red or grey. I feel like it helps with the creative process, as I can now link the track to those moods both musically AND visually.

INJECT yourself with some of these TOXic tunes! Get it, because tox-...I'm sorry:

If I start a project that I like, I find it hard to start another project until it is completely finished and published.

I also do the weird name thing... Since I decide the title around the finished track, the file name of the project would be completely different. Like "TheGrandSea.mp3" would probably be "somestupidorchestralhousecrap.rns".

Oh, and when I spend a long time being unproductive, I try to force creativity. When I don't like what I come up with I go crazy and intentionally make something god awful. like make some horrible synth with over the top modulation, add a distortion unit and turn the damage all the way up then pan it completely to the left. Make some horrible beat consisting of samples from different genres, turn 'snap to grid' off and click like a mad man. Once I have my "beat" I pan it completely to the right then open some random soundfont, add a distortion unit to it and bit-crush it, drown it in reverb, hit record and mash my MIDI controller keyboard. Save it, render it then play it in beat hazard... Happens every time I come to a creative block.

A lot of my project files seem to be messages to my future self, reopening the projects.

all i could think about while naming this snippit is caesar salad.flp
THE MOTHER OF ALL BASS PATCHES.alp
composed while being stoned to the high heavens.alp
SEND IT TO THE SMOGGY DEPTHS OF HELL AND NEVER LET IT RETURN.flp

Professional audio/visual idiot, poor excuse for a human being, gathering dust on a shelf somewhere in Sydney, NSW, Australia.

I have a habit of coloring certain tracks on the playlist while arranging the patterns.

For example, I always color my basses as green, the beats as red, the main instrument(s) as light purple, the strings/ambient sound as dark blue and the FX effects as dark purple or orange. Having them in other colors is just not acceptable.

I also seem to call my patterns in a rather unrepresentable way. For example, one of my main melodies' pattern is called 'FUCKYEAHYOLOSWAG", but I'll never know why I called it like that in the first place. Sometimes I even forget where each certain pattern is when the pattern count goes over 40.

At 1/19/13 07:33 AM, ChainsawPolice wrote:
Do you guys have any habits rooted into your workflow that you think are weird/unorthodox/not normal? I hear a bunch of them from my friends and they're often really cool way to do things that I never thought of, being self-taught and all.

When I name my channels, I always give them weird names depending on how they sound (Ripper, growler, slider, floater, etc).

When I make dubstep/electro synths, I always make the synth patch, then completely cut off the low end and replace it with a clean sub.

|--
|--
|--
|--
|--2--------
|--0--0-0--
*--*

I always play this when starting out a song and I have to force myself to not.

I frequently transpose my entire tracks as I'm writing them. I don't know anyone else who does this, but I find it gives me a fresh perspective on the music and helps me pick out balance issues. It can sometimes cause issues with samples if I've carefully mapped various CC's, as well as push the natural ranges of instruments, but the trade off is worth it. In the end, sometimes I'll go back to the original key, and other times I'll stick with the new key!

At 1/20/13 02:06 AM, DavidOrr wrote:
I frequently transpose my entire tracks as I'm writing them. I don't know anyone else who does this, but I find it gives me a fresh perspective on the music and helps me pick out balance issues. It can sometimes cause issues with samples if I've carefully mapped various CC's, as well as push the natural ranges of instruments, but the trade off is worth it. In the end, sometimes I'll go back to the original key, and other times I'll stick with the new key!

Actually that's the way you're supposed to do it, I don't because I'm lazy as shit and know a million ways to get around my faults (mastering wise.)

However, I organize my projects immensely. I separate kicks, hats, percs, synths, bass, leads, melodies, fx, vocals... and automation clips go on the corresponding channel. Could call it OCD, I just hate looking at a mess with I load up a project. Feels much more rewarding when you organize something and go back to it, also give you the mindset of a professional (even though it's a simple task at best.)

My second contribution to this thread, only because I thought of it recently.